Following the completion of this consultation process, the regulations for

non-cigarette tobacco products will be finalised before the commencement of the

Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011 on 1 January 2012.

INTRODUCTIONThe Australian Government is implementing a comprehensive suite of reforms toreduce smoking and its harmful effects. As part of these reforms and as a world first,the Government has introduced legislation mandating that all tobacco products sold inAustralia be sold in plain packaging by 1 July 2012. This will remove one of the lastremaining forms of tobacco advertising.The Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011 and Trade Marks Amendment (Tobacco PlainPackaging) Bill 2011 were introduced into Parliament on 6 July 2011, passed theHouse of Representatives on 24 August 2011 and are currently before the Senate.On 7 April 2011 the Government released an Exposure Draft of the Tobacco PlainPackaging Bill 2011 and an accompanying Consultation Paper for a 60 dayconsultation period. The Consultation Paper, available together with submissionsreceived at www.yourhealth.gov.au, noted that the Government would conduct afurther consultation on the detail of the proposed design features for the plainpackaging of non-cigarette tobacco products in the second half of 2011.This Consultation Paper, Tobacco Plain Packaging: Proposed approach to noncigarettetobacco products, outlines for public comment the Government’s proposedapproach to implementing plain packaging for non-cigarette tobacco products.Following the completion of this consultation process, the regulations fornon-cigarette tobacco products will be finalised before the commencement of theTobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011 on 1 January 2012.

The province is planning on taking legal action against tobacco companies to recover health care costs.

REGINA — The Saskatchewan government is another step closer to launching legal action against the tobacco industry, an avenue that several other provinces are also pursuing in an effort to recover health-care costs.

Justice Minister Don Morgan announced in a news release Thursday that the province has reached an agreement with Bennett Jones, LLP and Siskinds, LLP, a consortium that will bring a health-care cost recovery action on behalf of Saskatchewan.

“Retaining this consortium is an important step in initiating litigation against tobacco manufacturers,” Morgan said in a news release. “We are confident they will be excellent counsel for Saskatchewan as we look to recover health-care costs expended by the government to treat tobacco-related illnesses of Saskatchewan residents.”

Saskatchewan intends to join other provinces that are pursuing legal action including B.C., New Brunswick, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador. Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Quebec have also indicated their intent to pursue this type of tobacco litigation.

“We are concerned about the impact tobacco has on the health of our residents and are committed to reducing tobacco use in the province through the work of the provincial tobacco strategy,” Health Minister Don McMorris said in the statement. “Our actions, including steps to recover health-care costs from tobacco industry, honour our commitment to building a healthier Saskatchewan.”

The Saskatchewan Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act enables an action by the province against the tobacco industry for health-care costs resulting from tobacco use.

A pill that has been sold in Eastern Europe since the last four decades may prove to be an effective remedy for helping kick the butt after a new study showed that it could be safely used to get rid of the smoking habit.
Known as Tabex, the pill was developed during the Soviet era and is made up of a drug known as cytisine. The drug is available at a very cheap cost at $5 to $17 a month and can prove to be an effective way of quitting smoking, especially among poor countries.

The drug is manufactured by Bulgarian pharmaceutical company, Sopharma AD, and is cheaper than the currently available remedies for those who want to quit the habit. Researchers from University College London conducted a study involving 740 smokers in Poland.

Half of the participants were given cytisine for 25 days while the other half received dummy pills. Following up on the participants at the end of one year, the researchers found that 8.4 percent of those who took cytisine managed to give up smoking compared to 2.4 percent of those on dummy pills.

“The benefits of Tabex are comparable with those of other smoking-cessation treatments, but at a fraction of the cost. Cytisine is so cheap that even in developing countries, if you can afford to smoke, you can afford to stop”, lead researcher Dr Robert West said.

Stating that on screen representation of smoking glamorizes tobacco, civil society members Wednesday urged the film industry and censor board to avoid depicting such scenes in movies.

“There are several empirical studies and global evidence which show that depiction of tobacco usage in movies increases the risk of initiation of tobacco use in an indirect manner,” Salaam Bombay Foundation Programme Director Devika Chadha said at a workshop.

The workshop was attended by members of health and information and broadcasting ministries, along with representatives from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and film industry. Health Ministry Director Rakesh Kumar said more communication was needed between the health and information and broadcasting ministries to tackle the issue.

Supriya Sahu, representative of the information and broadcasting ministry, said the ministry monitors 300 of the over 700 TV channels to check there was no direct or indirect advertising of tobacco or alcohol. Supporting the activists, scriptwriter Rekha Nigam said: “Hands of Bollywood are bloodied…there are thousands ways of showing a character than showing smoking.”